Skills Development
As a group we have developed many skills over the course of this project. The skills range from practical skills such as setting up cameras, tripods and lights to technical skills such as the use of Final Cut Pro and Photoshop.
As soon as our trailer was conceptualised we started getting to know our target audience. We took apart every aspect of our conceptual trailer and began drawing up ideas of who it would appeal to. The central focus of the Blackberry messenger service gave us a good starting point – simply knowing that our target audience would most likely be fans of BBM allowed us to draw up a moodboard. We drew up several moodboards, and then asked someone we felt would be a prime example of our target audience which one he feels represented him the best.
Being able to use to camera to a high standard was a difficult skill to master. Managing the camera is made up of two aspects, technical and creative. First of all we had to learn all about the technical aspects of SLRs such as focus, depth of field and the ISO settings, all skills we used in our final product. Once we figured out how to keep the camera in focus, we began trying out different camera angles and experimenting with different depths of field. Creative features were slightly harder to do well. Looking at a scene through the eyes of a cameraman enabled us to work out what kind of shot would work well for certain scenes. We wanted to show our victims hands tied up but instead of simply filming his hands, we used a panning shot to slowly pan up to his hands. While filming we had to continuously ask ourselves how we could make the shot look better and remember techniques we learned in class, such as the rule of thirds. Being able to use the tracking rails was a relatively easy skill to learn, however we had no use for it in our final product. We also learned to use unconventional methods of camerawork to achieve exactly what we wanted, for example, we used to gorilla tripod to hook the camera onto a ladder to create the illusion it was a CCTV camera.
Lighting is a vital part of any production as without the correct lighting, nothing looks good. We learned how to use lights to cancel out shadows and create certain effects simply using the lights. Another skill we developed over this course is using the Kino Flo lights in unison with the handhold L.E.Ds. An instance of when we had to use them both was we were filming a shot that required a fully lit background and needed to light up our actors face. Handling exposure took some time to do well, at first our pictures were either took dark or too bright. For many shots we needed a very dark atmosphere so we sealed up anywhere light entered. This made our shots far too dark so we tried to combat it by merely setting up the Kino Flo lights. Early on we realised that simply setting up the lights and leaving them in a fixed position would not work, our only choice was to constantly rearrange the lights.
Learning Final Cut Pro from scratch took up quite a lot of time. Even once we learned certain technical aspects such as cuts, pacing and transitions we had to figure out how to use them effectively. Seeing as we were inexperienced film editors we had no idea what would look good in the eyes of a professional. For example, at first i thought quick cuts would give the trailer a fast-pace vibe to it but we realized that if we overused quick cuts the trailer would look really choppy. When editing a trailer using Final Cut Pro, variation is key. Ensuring that the cuts and transitions were varied was easy but they had to be able to seamlessly blend together. Another skill is using something we've learned elsewhere, and applying it to the video - such as importing images we created in Photoshop into final cut pro.
Working as a team was a skill that could not be taught to us by our teacher, we could only learn from experience and from our mistakes. The stronger the communication between us, the better we could work as a team. As soon as "Psychoactive Productions" was formed, we all exchanged phone numbers and added each-other on Facebook. We further improved our communication as a group by creating a Facebook group for Psychoactive Productions and regularly posting there. The Facebook page was where all work was assigned and any inquiries would be written on the page's "wall". When an online meeting would not suffice, we held real meetings in college during our breaks. Sharing phone numbers was extremely helpful as it meant we could contact each-other virtually whenever we needed to - it made the pre-production and production far easier. Working as a team early on also helped us get to know each-other, which in turn allowed us to know our weaknesses and strengths and tailor our roles to our strengths. Working with numerous time constraints was a skill we had trouble adapting to. If we were to do the production all over again we'd definitely ensure that we met every deadline on time to avoid our workload piling up. After missing merely one or two deadlines we found ourselves under tremendous amounts of pressure, another factor we had to learn to deal with due to missing a few deadlines.
As soon as our trailer was conceptualised we started getting to know our target audience. We took apart every aspect of our conceptual trailer and began drawing up ideas of who it would appeal to. The central focus of the Blackberry messenger service gave us a good starting point – simply knowing that our target audience would most likely be fans of BBM allowed us to draw up a moodboard. We drew up several moodboards, and then asked someone we felt would be a prime example of our target audience which one he feels represented him the best.
Being able to use to camera to a high standard was a difficult skill to master. Managing the camera is made up of two aspects, technical and creative. First of all we had to learn all about the technical aspects of SLRs such as focus, depth of field and the ISO settings, all skills we used in our final product. Once we figured out how to keep the camera in focus, we began trying out different camera angles and experimenting with different depths of field. Creative features were slightly harder to do well. Looking at a scene through the eyes of a cameraman enabled us to work out what kind of shot would work well for certain scenes. We wanted to show our victims hands tied up but instead of simply filming his hands, we used a panning shot to slowly pan up to his hands. While filming we had to continuously ask ourselves how we could make the shot look better and remember techniques we learned in class, such as the rule of thirds. Being able to use the tracking rails was a relatively easy skill to learn, however we had no use for it in our final product. We also learned to use unconventional methods of camerawork to achieve exactly what we wanted, for example, we used to gorilla tripod to hook the camera onto a ladder to create the illusion it was a CCTV camera.
Lighting is a vital part of any production as without the correct lighting, nothing looks good. We learned how to use lights to cancel out shadows and create certain effects simply using the lights. Another skill we developed over this course is using the Kino Flo lights in unison with the handhold L.E.Ds. An instance of when we had to use them both was we were filming a shot that required a fully lit background and needed to light up our actors face. Handling exposure took some time to do well, at first our pictures were either took dark or too bright. For many shots we needed a very dark atmosphere so we sealed up anywhere light entered. This made our shots far too dark so we tried to combat it by merely setting up the Kino Flo lights. Early on we realised that simply setting up the lights and leaving them in a fixed position would not work, our only choice was to constantly rearrange the lights.
Learning Final Cut Pro from scratch took up quite a lot of time. Even once we learned certain technical aspects such as cuts, pacing and transitions we had to figure out how to use them effectively. Seeing as we were inexperienced film editors we had no idea what would look good in the eyes of a professional. For example, at first i thought quick cuts would give the trailer a fast-pace vibe to it but we realized that if we overused quick cuts the trailer would look really choppy. When editing a trailer using Final Cut Pro, variation is key. Ensuring that the cuts and transitions were varied was easy but they had to be able to seamlessly blend together. Another skill is using something we've learned elsewhere, and applying it to the video - such as importing images we created in Photoshop into final cut pro.
Working as a team was a skill that could not be taught to us by our teacher, we could only learn from experience and from our mistakes. The stronger the communication between us, the better we could work as a team. As soon as "Psychoactive Productions" was formed, we all exchanged phone numbers and added each-other on Facebook. We further improved our communication as a group by creating a Facebook group for Psychoactive Productions and regularly posting there. The Facebook page was where all work was assigned and any inquiries would be written on the page's "wall". When an online meeting would not suffice, we held real meetings in college during our breaks. Sharing phone numbers was extremely helpful as it meant we could contact each-other virtually whenever we needed to - it made the pre-production and production far easier. Working as a team early on also helped us get to know each-other, which in turn allowed us to know our weaknesses and strengths and tailor our roles to our strengths. Working with numerous time constraints was a skill we had trouble adapting to. If we were to do the production all over again we'd definitely ensure that we met every deadline on time to avoid our workload piling up. After missing merely one or two deadlines we found ourselves under tremendous amounts of pressure, another factor we had to learn to deal with due to missing a few deadlines.